Research

• Comparative Politics (Political Institutions, Party Competition and Party Systems, Elections, Political Economy, Asian Politics, Japanese Politics)
• Quantitative Methodology

My current research focuses on political institutions, political parties, and elections. I am particularly interested in the competition between government parties and opposition parties and the preferences and strategies of opposition party leaders. In my dissertation, which I successfully defended in April 2005, I analyze the mechanism that makes some governments stay in power for a long time and others for a short time. My analysis connects the link between opposition parties' behavior and governments' electoral fortunes and examines how institutional rules make a difference in opposition parties' strategies and behaviors. In one of the chapters, I analyze the behavior of the Japan Socialist Party by paying attention to the electoral system and the incumbent legislators' reelection incentive.
Dissertation Committee: Mark P. Jones (chair), Eric C. C. Chang, Mark Elder, Burt L. Monroe, and Brian D. Silver.

Publications

• 2008. "Re-Examining the Contamination Effect of Japan's Mixed Electoral System Using the Treatment-Effects Model." Electoral Studies 27(4):723-31.

• 2007. "Learning in Hierarchies: An Empirical Test Using Library Catalogues." Journal of Theoretical Politics 19(4): 425-63. With Thomas H. Hammond and Kyle I. Jen.

• 2007. "Prime Ministerial Popularity and the Changing Electoral Fortunes of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party." Asian Survey 47(3): 415-33. With Dennis Patterson.

• 2006. "The general election in Japan, September 2005." Electoral Studies 25(3): 621-27. [Link to the article] (subscription required)

• 2006. "Duration of Party Control in Parliamentary and Presidential Governments: A Study of 65 Democracies, 1950-1998." Comparative Political Studies 39(3): 352-74. With Misa Nishikawa. [Link to the article] (subscription required)

• 2004. "Amerika: 'butaniku kubari' to giin no saisen tsuikyu." In Takeshi Kohno and Masahiro Iwasaki, eds., Rieki yudo seiji: kokusai hikaku to mekanizumu. Tokyo: Ashi Shobo. Title translation: "The United States: 'Pork Distribution' and Politicians' Reelection Quest."

Data

• The 2007 Election for the Japanese House of Councillors. The results of the prefectural districts (comma delimited text) and the codebook.

• The 2005 Election for the Japanese House of Representatives. The results of the single-member districts (comma delimited text) and the codebook.

• The 2004 Election for the Japanese House of Councillors. The results of the prefectural districts (comma delimited text) and the codebook.

• The government duration data used in Maeda & Nishikawa (2006): Table (pdf) / Numerical data (comma delimited text) and the codebook. (If you use this data set, please cite our CPS article.)

• Ranking of countries by the number of JSTOR participating institutions (comma delimited text). Sources: www.jstor.org/about/participants_na.html & www.jstor.org/about/participants_intl.html, accessed on June25, 2007.

Teaching